Every day brings more examples of the ethical challenges posed by AI to fields ranging from medicine, technology and government. Some are fairly familiar (e.g. concerning privacy, information security, appropriate rules of automated behaviour) but many are quite new (e.g. concerning algorithmic bias, transparency, and wider impacts).

The Ethics in AI seminars are intended to explore these questions in a truly interdisciplinary way that brings together students and academics from around the University. Initially, a major aim will be to familiarise participants with the landscape of Oxford research, building links and encouraging new connections. Hence early seminars will cover a range of topics with a variety of speakers from different centres, and will, we hope, attract a wide audience from across the University. The seminar will be followed by refreshments in the Blackwell Hall from 5.30pm, to encourage cross-disciplinary conversation and collaboration.

Topics to be discussed at the first seminar will include:

The place of Ethics in AI (Tom Douglas and Carissa Veliz, Uehiro Centre, Faculty of Philosophy)
AI Ethics and legal regulation (Vicki Nash, Sandra Wachter and Brent Mittelstadt, Oxford Internet Institute)
Ethics of AI in healthcare (Gil McVean from the Big Data Institute and Jess Morley from the Oxford Internet Institute)

The seminar will be chaired by Peter Millican, Professor of Philosophy and host of the University’s Futuremakers podcast whose 2018-19 series focused on AI. It will begin with an introduction by Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, who is spearheading the early stage of the Institute for Ethics in AI.